The Last Memory
"Indeed. Everyone tells me I died. And apparently, it has been three whole years, making today the day of my final memorial service."
"Yes..."
"But the thing is, I have absolutely no memory of dying."
"Th-then... what is your very last memory?"
The brief moment of waiting for his answer felt like an eternity. Yeongso swallowed hard.
"My wife, looking down at me as I lay there."
Thump. That was the sound of Baekri Yeongso's heart dropping.
"Your face, contorted as if in pain."
He really does remember.
"And your breasts, bouncing so wildly."
...Huh?
"The morning sun made your naked body look exceptionally white. You were so beautiful, shaking helplessly every time I thrust up into you."
"Oh..."
"In the end, I spilled myself right between your breasts, but there was so much of it that it even dirtied your face. That is my last memory. I played a rather mischievous prank on you then, didn't I? Dabbing my seed onto your lips like rouge."
Yeongso let out a soft gasp. She remembered exactly when he was talking about. It was the morning of the day she killed her husband. That day, the moment Banya opened his eyes, he had pulled Yeongso on top of him, whispering all sorts of lewd things as he took her. And then, a few hours later, he died by his wife's hand.
If that is his last memory, it means he doesn't know I'm the killer.
Yeongso stared at Banya with eyes full of wariness.
But why do I feel like I shouldn't take this man at his word?
Banya reached out his hand. Was he aiming for her face, or her neck? If the former, she would be crushed; if the latter, she would be strangled. Yeongso instinctively flinched away from his touch. Incredibly, Banya let out a sorrowful sigh.
"My lady, it breaks my heart when you look at me like that."
"...Pardon?"
"It aches right here, as if it's about to burst."
Banya gently took Yeongso's hand and pressed it against his chest. Thump, thump. The heartbeat beneath her palm was perfectly steady. It was entirely different from Yeongso's, which was racing like a cornered deer. His beat with calm stability. However, she had to remember that this was a man who maintained a perfectly even breath even while flaying a person alive.
"Then... do you not know how you pass—"
"Stop saying 'passed away.'"
"You don't know how you d-died, then?"
Unlike the usually soft-spoken Baekri Yeongso, her words kept tripping over themselves.
"I don't," Banya replied cheerfully.
"But do you know what's strange, my lady? Since my memory cuts off there, I have no idea what happened next. So I asked the bastards of Cheonsaryeon, and they claim even they don't know the exact cause of my death. They said it wasn't poison, and there were no wounds on my body, so perhaps my qi flowed backward and ruptured my meridians."
For some reason, Yeongso found it difficult to meet her husband's eyes.
"If some idiot had given me an answer like that three years ago, I would have snapped every bone in their body... Cheonsaryeon has become an absolute mess in my absence. I hear Jeokhwa Palace fell into the hands of my wretched half-brother, Hwa Mujin?"
"Yes..."
"Disgusting. A piece of trash like him succeeding me? I'd rather make a stray dog the Palace Master." Banya clicked his tongue.
"Anyway, that is my situation. I have no memories after our sweet time together, but when I opened my eyes, I was in a dark coffin, so I dug my way out of the grave. I returned straight to Cheonsaryeon, only to find out three years had passed and today was my final memorial service. Isn't it absurd that they buried me without even properly investigating the Alliance Leader's cause of death?"
"Therefore," Banya continued.
"I intend to find out exactly who killed me that day, no matter what."
As he spoke, Banya's eyes gleamed with a chilling light.
"Which brings me to this. I need my wife's help."
Banya smiled brightly. The hairs on the back of Yeongso's neck stood on end. When a normal person smiled, it usually meant something good, but Banya was different. Yeongso tried to force a sound out of her throat, but gave up.
"On the day I was murdered. I plan to investigate every single detail of what happened inside and outside Cheonsaryeon that day, and who I met and when. If I torture them one by one, the culprit is bound to turn up, don't you think?"
"...Do you intend to extract a confession through torture?"
"Do you dislike the idea? It happens to be what I do best." Banya smiled again.
Yeongso's stomach churned, unable to read her husband's mind. He was not a gentle soul by nature. Nor was he someone who smiled this often. When Hwa Banya smiled, it was always when he was about to put some truly, truly horrific deed into action.
"But isn't there a chance someone might give a false confession just to escape the torture? If that happens, you will lose the real culprit..."
"It doesn't matter."
"Pardon?"
"I am confident I won't miss the real culprit."
"Ah, I see..."
"Beating them one by one serves to find the culprit, but it is also my way of venting my anger. The Alliance Leader died a sudden death, yet they threw me into a grave as if they had been waiting for it. It's insolent. To think the strongest man of the Sapa died so suddenly of a mere qi deviation."
Banya gnashed his teeth, muttering that those who agreed to it were in league with the real culprit. He added that he would take this opportunity to purge the ranks. He remarked that on his way in, he had spotted several useless bastards who weren't even fit to be doormats. Every word spilling from a face so beautiful he could pass for an imperial prince was incredibly vulgar. Seeing this, he was indeed the same husband from three years ago.
"Then... what is it you need me to do?"
"Write down a list of those you suspect to be the culprit, my lady. I will grind their bones to dust and drink them down one by one."
Yeongso felt dizzy. The culprit who killed Banya was Yeongso herself. Everyone else was entirely innocent. Even if this place was Cheonsaryeon, a viper's nest, Baekri Yeongso was the sole guilty party when it came to the murder of the former Alliance Leader. Yet he was asking her to write a list of suspects. Anything she wrote would essentially become a death list.
"C-could you perhaps reconsider that? I don't really know the people of Cheonsaryeon very well..."
"There is no guarantee the culprit is from Cheonsaryeon."
"That is also true. Um, what I mean is... since you plan to investigate thoroughly, wouldn't it be better to have your trustworthy subordinates look into it? It would be far more professional than relying on my mere guesses."
Yeongso continued, desperately trying to hide her anxiety.
"Since our marriage, I have stayed strictly in the inner quarters, and after your funeral, I practically lived in the ancestral shrine. Though I am called the wife of the former Alliance Leader, I embarrassingly know next to nothing about Cheonsaryeon or Jeokhwa Palace. I do not want to carelessly suspect someone and cause their death."
Banya fell silent. He was no longer smiling, nor did his eyes gleam. He simply stared at her, as if believing that if he looked deep enough into her eyes, the answer would present itself. A smiling Banya was terrifying, but a silent Banya was equally frightening. His silence tightened around Yeongso's throat like an invisible noose.
I mustn't look away right now.
Her late master had once said that a person must know when to back down and when to grit their teeth and hold their ground. In Yeongso's judgment, this was the latter. She repeated it to herself like a mantra. This is a critical moment. I must endure. I cannot back down here, Baekri Yeongso. Even if she felt like she was about to be swallowed whole by Banya's pitch-black eyes, she had to bear it. If she looked away now, it would be no different from confessing that she was the culprit.
"If that is indeed my lady's wish, then very well."
He assured her that he would select the right person to handle the investigation, so she should not worry. At Banya's apparent retreat, Yeongso secretly let out a sigh of relief. Just as Banya was about to speak again, a voice calling for him echoed from outside. It seemed the rumor of Hwa Banya's return from the dead had already spread, as the leaders of various sects had arrived. Banya clicked his tongue lightly.
"Of course, they only move fast at times like this."
Banya stood up, finally releasing the hand he had been holding.
"I will return tonight."
"Tonight... why?"
She asked before she could stop herself. Her husband, clad in his black silk shroud, looked at Yeongso's wide, round eyes and smiled gently.
"I have left such a beautiful wife to sleep in an empty bed for three whole years. Surely, I must pay for my sins."
"I intend to make up for lost time over the course of a long, long night." Leaving behind words that were perhaps even more terrifying than his vow to hunt down the culprit, he stepped out of the room. The moment the sliding door clicked shut, Yeongso's slender body collapsed to the side.